Asklemmy

When I make quesadillas, I put a thin layer of this really good chipotle sauce on the tortilla before I start adding the ingredients. Plus, butter for browning the tortilla always trumps cooking spray. Finally, when browning the meat, there’s a sweet and spicy sauce I’ll put in the pan along with some honey to finish browning the meat. Adds a layer of sticky goodness.

Almost all of my barbecue rubs have black garlic salt/pepper. Make it myself.

Balance acidity, that's pretty much how to make every sauce delicious. Per OP's suggestion, that free glutamate punch also helps.

Butter. Butter. More butter. More butter, more better

Ground fennel seed.

People use it for chicken, fish and broth and it's great in all of them but it realy shines in salads.

I used to be just like you, not really liking salads. They were always just a side dish or something to eat when I wanted to be "healthy". But that changed when I started adding fennel seed.

Now, whenever I make salad I start by adding a ton of FS, think "shit, I added too much", sit down to eat it only to get back up amd add more.

Sliced watermelon with Tajin spice is the food of the gods.

Unsweetened cocoa powder in my chili. I'm not sure how common/uncommon that is, but everyone I've ever told looks at me like I'm crazy, right before asking for a 4th bowl. At least Alton doesn't think I'm crazy.

Beans (usually black beans, but I've been looking more into other varieties lately), lentils, peas, soy curls, tofu, tempeh, tvp, rice, oat groats, barley, quinoa, bulgur, amaranth, other grains I can't remember at the moment, and seitan: wherever most people would use mutilated body parts.

Oregano. 🤫 Don’t tell anybody Andy.

Scrambled eggs. Add some cream and onion.

Add two or three tablespoons of sugar when you're making a batch of salsa, just a tiny hint of sweetness is all it takes~

Salt, butter and garlic. But I have a feeling my secret ingredients aren't all that secret.